U.S. envoy: NSA spying causing distress in Germany

U.S. envoy John Emerson been conveying German outrage to Washington while seeking to reassure the Germans.

Photo: Michael Sohn / Associated Press

BERLIN — The United States faces a difficult task in repairing its image among Germans after allegations of massive National Security Agency surveillance, including Chancellor Angela Merkel's personal cellphone, the U.S. American ambassador here acknowledged Friday.

Media reports last month that Merkel's phone had been tapped by NSA operatives working out of the U.S. Embassy in Berlin unleashed a firestorm of criticism in Germany, which has been among America's closest European allies since the end of World War II.

Merkel, who grew up in Communist East Germany where state surveillance was pervasive, demanded an explanation in a personal call to President Barack Obama. Later, she declared trust with the U.S. “has to be built anew.”

Germany, which still hosts more than 30,000 U.S. troops, has asked for a “no spying” agreement with the United States and has signed on to a Brazilian resolution at the United Nations calling for greater privacy protection for Internet and other electronic communications.

Merkel's response to the October revelations was markedly stronger than last spring, when she appeared anxious to downplay initial revelations by NSA leaker Edward Snowden.

John Emerson, a California lawyer and former White House staffer in the Clinton administration, assumed his ambassador post in Berlin in late August — two months before the Merkel surveillance story broke.

Since then, he says he's been seeking to repair the damage two ways — by conveying German outrage to Washington while seeking to assure the Germans that the Americans are taking their complaints seriously.

“On a government-to-government level, we're making good progress,” Emerson said. “I think in terms of the general public, there is perhaps a broader reaction and a little more skepticism about the value in the intelligence-sharing.”

Given the extensive trade, investment, security and cultural ties between Germany and the U.S., Emerson believes the two governments can weather the NSA storm.

But with the German public, which cherishes privacy and civil liberties after its painful history of Nazi and Communist dictatorships, he acknowledged: “It's just going to take time.”

A poll this month of 1,002 Germans conducted by Germany's public television network ARD found only 35 percent of those surveyed consider the U.S. a trustworthy partner, down 14 percentage points from a July survey. France was considered the most trustworthy at 80 percent, the survey said. It gave a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.

The series of NSA revelations also has focused attention on other aspects of the U.S. military and its security role in Germany nearly a generation after the Cold War ended.

The Sueddeutsche Zeitung, a leading German newspaper based in Munich, published an extensive report Friday, alleging that the presence of U.S. forces has made Germany the shadowy “indispensable partner” in the U.S. war against terrorism.